The Bremen Soup Angels – Initiative for the Homeless and Needy e.V.

The Union

Since 1997, the Soup Angels have been providing food to people in need and organizing local aid for self-help.

In 1997, Zia Hüttinger began cooking soup several times a week for the homeless and needy, distributing it directly to them.
Today, the "Soup Angels" are a fixture between Domsheide and the main train station, delivering freshly cooked soup, sandwiches, fresh salads, and coffee to the homeless and needy using specially equipped cargo bikes. This service is now gratefully used by over 200 people. What began as a spontaneous idea has evolved over several years into the registered association "Die Bremer Suppenengel e.V." (The Bremen Soup Angels), which was officially recognized as a non-profit and charitable organization in 2007.

In addition to providing mobile food services on site, the association organizes self-help initiatives for the following problem areas:

• What facilities are available in Bremen for showers, laundry, clothing banks, overnight stays, etc., and where can they be found?
  Questions about dealing with authorities and finding suitable contacts for specific help.
• In cases of alcohol and drug abuse, information is provided on which clinics for withdrawal exist (also outside of Bremen) and, if necessary, support is given in making initial contact.
• Information for contacts regarding housing searches and medical emergencies

Since September 2007, we have been fortunate enough to be able to use the kitchen and storage rooms of the St. Jakobi parish in Neustadt im Kirchweg.

We were also able to create opportunities to actively involve both former homeless people or recipients of unemployment benefit II (ALGII) as well as people in need under the German Social Code Book XII (SGB XII) in our team for food preparation and delivery, thus helping them to restructure their daily routine.

Furthermore, since 2014 we have been a provider of positions for the Federal Volunteer Service (Bufdi).